Position in chronology
OIP 092, 0042
About this tablet
An administrative memorandum in Elamite from the fortification archive at Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (roughly the reign of Darius I, around 500 BCE). It records a sizeable delivery of wine — 29 marriš, close to 280 liters — moving between named officials, and the final phrase marks it as belonging to, or destined for, the king. Tens of thousands of such tablets survive; together they reveal the meticulous bookkeeping behind the Persian court's food and drink supply.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Receipt: 29 marriš of wine (roughly 280 liters). Handled by Appirmarša; Ummišša, drawing on stock from Rašanuizza; Bašširkada took delivery. The clerk adds 'ditto' — the same procedure as in the previous entry — and closes with the crucial designation: this wine is on the king's account. In modern terms, a one-line entry in the royal supply ledger: who released the wine, whose stores it came from, who signed for it, and that the crown was the beneficiary.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine29 marriš of wine. Appirmarša (supplied it?); Ummišša — from Rašanuizza — Bašširkada received(?) (it); he did the same (ditto); (provision) of the king.
Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
2(u)# 9(disz@v)# mar-ri-isz _gesztin!-<mesz>_-na ap-pir2-mar-sza2 um-ma-isz-sza2 <<da>> ra-sza2-nu-iz-za-mar ba-isz-szir8-ka4!-da ku-iz-da hu-ud-da-_ki-min! eszszana_-na
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Achaemenid (547-331 BC)) — OIP 092, 0042. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: OIM L— (PFAP, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA) — from Pārśa (mod. Persepolis) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P382728). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.